What does it mean to be a 21st-century male? Australia's Chris Lilley puts the species under a microscope to find out in the edgy new comedy series ANGRY BOYS, which kicks off its 12-episode season SUNDAY, JAN. 1 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, presenting two half-hour episodes back-to-back each Sunday night.

Series creator and writer Lilley, who was also the creator and star of the acclaimed HBO series "Summer Heights High," uses his chameleon-like talents to play multiple roles in a mock-documentary look at the lives of average boys and men, displaying their day-to-day interactions and struggles to fulfill their obligations to family and friends.

The show focuses on six characters, all played by Lilley: Nathan and Daniel Sims, identical 17-year-old twins who live in the fictional town of Dunt, South Australia; 65-year-old Ruth Sims (aka "Gran"), Nathan and Daniel's loving but no-nonsense grandmother, who's a prison officer at the Sydney Garingal Juvenile Justice Center for teenage boys; S.mouse, a 24-year-old African-American rapper from Los Angeles; Jen Okazaki, a soft-spoken, often cold Japanese wife and mother of three, whose son Tim is an aspiring skateboarding champion; and Blake Oakfield, a 38-year-old former championship surfer from the fictional town of Narmucca Bay, New South Wales.

ANGRY BOYS has already sparked extensive critical praise in Australia, with the Guardian calling it "beautifully observed, extraordinarily executed" and Chris Lilley "jaw-dropping." The Sydney Morning Herald said the show is "bold, aggressive, unafraid to trample on some very shaky ground," while the Australian Telegraph observed, "Pushing the boundaries of political correctness to breaking point, Lilley has delivered exactly what his fans expect," adding that the series shows "why TV critics have hailed him an 'outrageous comic genius.' ''

Lilley's "Summer Heights High," which debuted on HBO in Nov. 2008, took a humorous and brutally honest look at life in an average public school, focusing on a self-important, high-strung drama teacher, a haughty, private-school female exchange student and a breakdancing-obsessed delinquent, with Lilley playing all three lead roles. The series has become the best-selling TV series on DVD in Australian history, with Rolling Stone Australia hailing Chris Lilley as a "comic genius," and describing him as the "smartest, funniest, riskiest writer-performer in Australia. And maybe, just maybe, the world."

ANGRY BOYS was created and written by Chris Lilley; executive producers, Laura Waters, Chris Lilley and Debbie Lee (for the ABC); produced by Laura Waters, Chris Lilley; directed by Chris Lilley, Stuart McDonald and Jeffrey Walker.